The late Robert Vaughn was one of a dozen major stars to headline the 1980 disaster epic VIRUS, a Japanese-Canadian co-production shot around the world. In the film, a super-virus is accidentally released and rapidly reduces the world's population to a handful of survivors in the antarctic. Though they escape the titular virus, they soon find themselves endangered by an automatic atomic strike when a coming earthquake triggers a fail-safe device in Washington! This while the survivors of the virus are already having trouble preserving some sense of civilization in a world where man has largely been destroyed... Despite being a minor masterpiece of it's subgenre, the film under-performed and went by with barely a notice (though it did enjoy a long life as a video rental title). Co-star George Kennedy figured this was because the title simply didn't impress people, who would hear the word VIRUS and think of nothing more serious than the common cold. (Ironically, recent years have seen the media latch onto the label, which now increases fearful reaction to illness...) Amid the star-power on display is Glenn Ford as the US President, Chuck Connors as a submarine captain, and, oh, too many others to name! The only weak performance is from Henry Silva, who for some reason has been directed to overact wildly and broadly. Still, the film is a dandy forgotten gem. At least such can be said about it's American form. Reportedly, the Japanese cut runs much longer but deviates into some supremely goofy sub-plots. Seeing how perfectly structured the US cut is, it's hard to believe it was whittled down from a larger mess. The film as it exists on American video and DVD is so tight! Worth a look.
No comments:
Post a Comment